In a previous article of mine in this publication dated November 8, 2012, titled ‘Creating Wealth for Goa’, the writer had argued that if tourism had to survive in a sustainable manner, then we should not commit the same mining mistakes of depriving Goans a financial stake in the tourism pie. Don’t confuse financial stake with doles the government dishes out in the form of bribes to all lazy and sundry, in order to buy their silence, so that they get a free run without scrutiny of their agenda of rampant destruction. Six years later, although tourism has picked up, we are yet to see financial opportunities for Goans that are willing to invest in this sector. 

Not to say that Goans have not benefited, but most of them are still dealing in small change, while the big bucks are kept out of the Goan reach. Having said that, no easy task for Goans to open and manage a starred hotel on a whim. But in an age of crowd funding, by now the government ought to have been thinking on these lines and found solutions unique to Goa, to make sure part of the financial investments are exclusively kept aside for Goans to invest to those willing to risk a relatively small capital. These could be on the lines of employee stock options that are popular with IT companies and followed by many others in different sectors.

When more and more Goans have a financial interest in the tourism industry it is natural everybody will work towards its success. Today most Goans with no financial stake in tourism consider tourists as a hindrance to their way of life. Does not mean Goans are totally out of the tourism pie, there are some very successful restaurants and small hotels that benefit from tourism, but will they survive especially when deep pocket cash, seeing the immense opportunity Goa has, arrives from other parts of the country and take stakes in this business. 

Starting a Goan restaurant in Goa for a financially resourceful outsider is no big deal, combined with excellent marketing, good food, and great customer service; it is bound to disrupt established Goans from the marketplace. Add to that, most Goan recipes are easily available in the public domain and not some closely guarded KFC type secret. 

Goans never understood the meaning of trade secret, with the exception of people like the owner of Jila Bakery of Loutolim, who once politely refused a celebrity chef on television his secret recipe. Actually the television programme itself was designed to unearth covert recipes as much as possible from Goa’s best. Turns out, the chef almost immediately opens a grand restaurant in north Goa with a north Indian partner. A glaring example of how Goans will be displaced from their own business if they let their guard down. 

Of course most restaurants are family run businesses and it is possible that while passing the baton to their Generation Next, disputes could arise due to unfair succession plan. In these cases ownership could go to a complete outsider and a Goan family could lose control over its business. Therefore it is very important succession plans are thrashed out well in advance to maintain continuity of the business. Otherwise we Goans will lose market share, even if it is for personal reasons.

With successive governments making sure Goans are kept out from the big bucks of tourism, market disruptors such as Airbnb, Oyo and many with their aggregator business model have done the job, by demonstrating how benefits of tourism can be shared with the local population. Although these companies do not work exclusively for Goa, many Goans have benefited by opening their homes for tourists willing to experience a home stay experience. Agreed, this type of arrangement was always in place for Goa, but not at the scale it does now. The only thing Goans should now look out for, apart from giving good service to your guests, is to keep an eye on the government, under pressure from their friends from the hotel lobby, and to return the favour of extracting countless free meals from them, they might create obstacles in the form of new taxes or throw in some more procedures in the name of regulations.

When more and more players enter the tourism market of Goa and in this case individual Goans flooding the accommodation inventory supply, the pie is going to shrink for the bigger players. While every tourist has different profile, there is a place for every player to happily coexist, provided there is mutual respect for each other’s turf. It is here that the government will have frame a fair and simple policy that is not biased to one player at the cost of the other. 

Over the years Goans have earned a reputation that we are not great admirers of dignity of labour. But that is changing fast; They are not afraid to deliver food during their free time on bikes, entertain guests in restaurants even if it is on a part time basis, and set up food trucks on the street, as part of a street food option. It’s just a matter of time food aggregators such as Swiggy will start concentrating beyond restaurants to local kitchens for food to be delivered either to the tourist or a local. Goans just have to focus on customer delight and there will be money to be made, provided we take the opportunity with both hands.  

Goans in charge of policy have hardly bothered the exodus that is happening in front of our nose. At least let’s put in place a mechanism which not only makes it lucrative for a Goan to live in Goa, but beats wealth making through corrupt means by a long shot. Hardworking and honest Goan Generation Next is trying to make a living through tourism; we need to persuade them to stay with bigger stakes in the tourism pie. 

(The author is a business consultant)